Have you shopped in J.C. Penney lately? Maybe you shouldn’t waste your time. And try Target instead of WalMart. Why? ETHICS. Take a look at the video in my previous blog that describes young girls sitting on the floors on garment factories for 17 hours a day, with no back support, plucking the extra fabric off seams! (undercover reporter worked there)

I know that there will be plenty of Americans who might strongly disagree with me, arguing that current economic strains more or less force them to shop at WalMart and J.C. Penney. I’ll challenge that theory though. Truth is: Most people end up spending twice as much money in WalMart as what they planned to spend by the time they’re leaving the store. (big secret: that’s WalMart’s strategy). Quiet frankly, most middle-class Americans can’t afford to make that costly mistake in today’s economic environment. And just how much “stuff” do people really need? And as far as J.C. Penney is concerned, that store’s losing money hand over fist. With the recent firing of their CEO, many poor decisions, low-quality clothing that doesn’t even have finished seams, and with much of their clientel robbing the company blind, J.C.Penney is faultering. Maybe its lack of ETHICS is karma that’s just finally catching up with it.

These two retailers, along with Gap and Sears, have refused to sign the international pact designed to bring much safer working standards into dangerous garment factories throughout Bangladesh and other countries for months.

STOP SHOPPING THERE! Just like your momma’s told you – There’s plenty of other fish in the sea! In other words, there are alternative retailers….try ’em out. Last time I checked, human rights violations aren’t anything that Americans stand for, so shopping at these stores only precipitates their poor behaviors.